Joining Jo on a Monday walk

Along the southern end of Burleigh Beach a bush covered headland juts out into the ocean. In 1947 it was designated a National Park and has retained its bush covered beauty in the middle of the surrounding suburban hi-rises.

It provides a peaceful haven for wildlife and walkers. Remnants of past volcanic activity, littoral rainforest and reminders of the living culture of the Kombumerri people are protected in this park. The Kombumerri call the headland “Jellurgal”.

In spite of its small size, the park is quite diverse, with fringing mangroves along the creek, and windswept tussock grassland, open forest, rainforest and coastal vegetation around the headland.

So come with me for a walk along the Ocean view track.

Before we get to the beginning of the National Park we first walk along the beachside and past that restaurant. Always lots of activity.

In the background you can see bush clad Burleigh Heads and the building in front is a restaurant and privately run swimming pool for the general public. Dining and swimming right on the ocean

This is a much cheaper option than dining in the restaurant. A happy family get together. Even have the safety of the police keeping an eye on things.At the Nook you can collect your take away coffee and have a chat while your dog can have a drink too.Plenty of benches to sit and admire the view. In the far distance you can see the hi-rises of Surfers Paradise.

At the start of the walkway is a memorial plaque dedicated to the traditional Aborigine owners and commemorating the fact that this is where the modern style surfing competitions began in 1977.In the carpark at the entrance to the Oceanway walk this magnificent Frangipani tree caught my eye. What a lovely sight and in the evening the perfume must drift up to those holiday apartments behind it.

The tracks around the park have been closed for about 3 months for upgrading, but have recently re-opened so I’m interested to see what has been done.The tracks have been resurfaced to make them wheel-chair friendly and new fence has been installed.

This is a new bench a handy place to sit awhile and watch the surfing activity. There’s also some new native shrubs been put in.

But the local wildlife is still here.

This bush turkey has found a tasty snack left behind. Though notices are up to say “do not feed the wild life”. I don’t like to see rubbish left behind either…I stopped in my tracks when I saw this water dragon sunning himself in the middle of the track. He wasn’t worried about me, probably used to people passing by. So I slowly inched closer taking photos, ever closer and closer and still he, disdainfully, just ignored me.I think he has his eye on me and from this distance I could almost touch him. But I didn’t. Then he suddenly scuttled off head and tail in the air in the funny rolling gait they have.Walking past the open grassland area and round this corner the view stretches south and looks across the border into New South Wales with Coolangatta in the distance.

The 2 fishermen are trying their luck and the ocean is quite calm today. I wonder if they have caught anything. At this point we turn back. I will leave the rest of the up-hill section for another day.So it is back through the Rain forest and past the unusual rock formations

“Between 20 and 23 million years ago, molten lava from numerous eruptions in the Mount Warning area spread in all directions, some flows reaching the present coastline at Burleigh headland and Point Danger. Slow cooling of the thick lava resulted in shrinkage and cracking into six-sided columns. Many slid and rolled to the water’s edge.

Heavy rain seeping down into the underlying rocks contributes to the instability of the area and aids in speeding up the movement of these huge columns further downslope.” (here is more information of the area)

I think I will stop for a coffee at the Nook on my way past, or there is another snack bar a bit further along and they serve ice cream!!!

Why on earth did you get close enough to get a picture of that dragon?! At least it is not another wallaby!
I do not recognize those native dracaenas (or cordylines). I DO recognize that frangipani! Brent has a few, and one of them is might be like that one. It is known as plumeria there. His is not nearly as large, but is getting big.

Does this coast still suffer from erosion, Pauline? I would expect it might, but that boardwalk is wonderful. Maybe it helps to underpin some of it. I’m all for these kind of boardwalks and there are an increasing number appearing in the Algarve. Nice to know someone’s thinking ahead for when I’m old and dothery. 🙂 🙂 Thanks a lot for joining me. Have a lovely, and stress free week!

They do close the walkway in heavy rain, and I’m thinking it will be closed tomorrow as we’ve just had a down pour with more to come. Occasionally they have had slips and had the track blocked. But the upper walkway is always open

Wow just stunning views of your morning walk Pauline, And that water dragon, well, just beautiful. such a great photo. 🙂 Such a beautiful coastline.
Love your new site Pauline. and hope Jack is doing OK also. Thought I spied him on that bench lol 🙂 Give him my well wishes.. 🙂

I think you have taken us here before PP, but before the new trail. I wish someone would pave our coastal trails, but I don’t think that will happen any time soon! I enjoyed walking in Australia (when it wasn’t too hot) because the paths and boardwalks are usually nice and smooth. Lovely to see a dragon, I was always enchanted to see one in Sydney and you got a lovely shot of him. I spotted Jack on that bench enjoying the view. Say hi to him from me 🙂

I see from Kaz’s blog that the coast around Bondi / Coogee suffered badly in last year’s storms with a whole section of the trail having collapsed.

This is such a popular walk and also a jogging and fitness circuit. You have a very good memory Jude, I think I did a couple of posts on the old Gypsy life blog. Good spotting, yes that was Jack. There was a very bad slip on one of the blue mountain tracks and a maintenance person who was was working on the track was killed

Yes I think you wrote about it once you’d returned home permanently. You live in a lovely area. Sorry to hear about the landslip in the Blue Mountains, the trails there must be hard work to maintain. And now once again they have horrendous fires in California.

Thanks for the memories, I have walked this park many times. It is an absolute gem. Two winters ago we spent a fortnight in the Burleigh CP opposite the Nook. Catching up with family and friends and having much needed repairs done to the car.